Friday, March 13, 2015

The Vasa Museum, Stockholm

The Vasa is the only preserved
seventeenth-century ship in the world, and a unique art treasure. More than 95
percent of the ship is original, and it is decorated with hundreds of carved
sculptures.

The 69 meter-long warship Vasa
sank on its maiden voyage in the middle of Stockholm in 1628. The reason why
the ship sank in its maiden voyage was due to the lack of stability. The
underwater part of the hull was too small and the ballast insufficient in
relation to the rig and cannon. It was believed that the ship was well built
but incorrectly proportioned.

Over time her location was
forgotten, but in the 1920s a group of divers applied for permission to blow up
the wreck and salvage the black oak timbers. During the 1950s, a private
researcher, Anders Franzen, began to search for her. He knew that wooden ships
are preserved in the brackish water of the Baltic. In more salty water, wood is
rapidly destroyed by the shipworm, Teredo navalis.

The Vasa was finally salvaged 333
years later in 1961. For nearly half a century the ship has been slowly,
deliberately and painstakingly restored to a state approaching its original
glory. The three masts on the roof outside the specially built museum show the
height of the ship's original masts. Today the Vasa Museum is the most visited
museum in Scandinavia, with over one million visitors a year. There are ten
different exhibitions around the ship to tell about life on board the ship.

On the ship one finds the
national coats of arms, Sweden’s symbol. The lions have featured since the 13th
century. The three crowns symbolise the Three Holy Kings. The central shield
bears the arms of the Vasa family, a sheaf of corn (‘vase’ in old Swedish). The
crown emphasises the royal status of the dynasty.

About Me

I have studied Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Theology, International Relations at the University of London (Queen Mary). My Master's Thesis was published as a book: 'The Aegean Sea Dispute Between Greece and Turkey - The Consequences for NATO and the EU'. For more information see: http://www.akakia.net/el/the-aegean-sea-dispute-between-greece-and-turkey
I have also studied Byzantine Music in Athens and I am currently undertaking a research on the “Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius and its contribution towards Anglican – Orthodox Relations”, at the University of Winchester.
I also represent the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain at the A.E.C.A. If you wish to contact me you can email me: demetrifs1@yahoo.com